Sword’s Edge Publishing

This one is more of a one-page component of an adventure than the adventure itself. This is an answer to the issue of PCs finding information. Sometimes, it’s just as easy to hand it over—have one of the PCs with the proper build know the information. Sometimes, it can be fun to breakdown how and where they get that information. For me, when it comes to ancient or otherwise forgotten knowledge, I force them to do what I did for so much of my time in university: do a little research!

Story

In search of forgotten or obscure knowledge, the PCs seek out an archive that they know to have ancient sources—tomes and scrolls and maybe cuneiform tablets. The knowledge of which archive to visit and where that archive can be found might be it’s own little adventure following a similar path.

Places

The Town: This was once the main city of the state, but with changes in dynasties and power centres, its importance has dwindled and so too has its population. It is now peripheral to politics, but still has the memories of that all-but-forgotten time—especially in its archives.

The Archives: This might be a state institution still as it was when it was first created, or maybe it fell into private hands after power moved away. It fills a tower near the centre of the city, with its collection reaching through three underground levels.

People

The Curator: The archive—whether it is in private or public hands—will have a managing and/or controlling figure. They will be the one whom the PCs will need to convince to provide them access if not assistance in their quest. As this is a kind of librarian, I would argue they will be enthusiastic, generous, and helpful. In my version, they are thrilled someone wants to use the archive to expand their knowledge, and will be a useful ally in the search.

The Troll: Not a literal one, but someone seeking power and trying to protect theirs. That’s this person. They see the PCs efforts to uncover knowledge as reducing their own power—forgetting that knowledge is not a zero-sum game. They will do their utmost to create obstacles for the PCs, though they will not do so overtly. The Troll can be an outside figure who hasn’t cared about the archives until somebody wants to use it.

Events

The Approach: The PCs will need to introduce themselves to the Curator and gain permission to access the archives. They may not be able to explain fully what they want if their purpose is to remain secret, but they’ll need to gain the Curator’s trust and acceptance if not their cooperation.

The Search: There can be many layers to the Search. The Curator will understand the structure of the archive and will have some form of indexing, but even then, the PCs will need to go through different works seeking for clues. Those clues will lead to other documents with more clues. If the players are reacting negatively to this scenario, let the PCs quickly hit upon the information they need. If the players are engaged in the pursuit, there are multiple nuggets of information in different sources that all lead to the final accumulation of the knowledge the PCs seek.

The Rings of Power introduced something that had been part of a Middle-Earth campaign I ran back in high school based on information from The Lord of the Rings’ appendices and The Silmarillion—there were five Istari, and the two Blue Istari disappeared into Rhun. I can’t remember much more than that, but in that campaign, the two Blue Istari returned, one taking Dol Guldor in Mirkwood and the other re-claiming Minas Morgul in Mordor at a time when the Reunited Kingdom was eating itself alive due to dynastic politics. So, this adventure is going to mimic that first adventure way back before even the first Lord of the Rings movies, when all we had was Bakshi’s Lord of the Rings and Rankin Bass’ Return of the King.

I’m thinking that the dying empire and the necromancer who is at the heart of this one-pager have a long history. In my thinking, the empire is the second rising of an ancient polity, and it had gained dominance after battling with an upstart kingdom led by a powerful enemy known as The Necromancer. Well, the emperors called them a necromancer, but they were more of a sorcerer. The emperor brought together a coalition of powerful nations under its leadership, defeated the sorcerer’s kingdom, and then forced itself on the coalition as a kind of overlord. That was two hundred years ago. The empire is falling apart as this story begins.

This is kind of a mystery, and much of it is finding more clues to the identity of The Necromancer at the centre of it. As the one-pager is intended for inspiration and outline rather than details, anyone running this scenario would probably add more clues than are mentioned.

Story

It’s a dark time of uncertainty. As the old king withers on the throne, his children squabble over the kingdom. Here, on the edges of kingdom, a collection of wanderers, warriors, and rogues come together in a trading town engulfed in terror. People are disappearing. The mornings after moonless nights, more are missing—sometimes entire families. The mayor and council are too busy playing politics to do anything, and as long as it doesn’t touch the families of the rich and powerful, the authorities don’t seem inclined to do anything. The PCs are drawn in for their own reasons, seeking answers to this deadly riddle.

Places

The Site: The rumours are that every moonless night, people vanish brings murders. The PCs will actually have a chance to examine the scene, as a family close tot hem disappears. Rumours spoke of markings in blood, which the PCs find. Any spellcaster (or perhaps academic) will recognize them and their import—these are dark runes of magic, last used by the Cult of the Undead King, who worshipped the ancient enemy known as the Necromancer. And the markings are made in blood—a person’s blood

The Citadel: Now a ruin in an all-but-abandoned quarter of the city, this was the fort that fostered the town. The imperial officers now live in expensive townhouses and work in the Urbis Curia. The Citadel is now the centre of the Cult of the Undead King, seeking to resurrect the Necromancer.

People

The Contacts: There are those in the town who can help the PCs—a sage who has encountered these runes before, some unhoused who have noted strange goings-on at the Citadel, and even witnesses from among the underclass who have seen strange, dark carriages staffed with people swathed in darkness on moonless nights. The contacts will help illuminate the PCs and given them clues—or interpret them. But their chatter will also alert the Cult of the Undead King to the PCs’ investigation.

The Count: The Lord-Mayor of the town is also an imperial count, distantly related to the ruling family. They are unimpressed with the PCs and disinclined to pursue murders that have only occurred among the underclass and have not yet disturbed the ‘good people.’

The Acolyte: This is an individual who has studied magic their entire life. They believe they are resurrecting The Necromancer of legend. They are not. That being has been discorporated and can never again appear in the material plane. Instead, this is the last of an ancient line of wizards drawn to the use of magics they thought extinct.

Events

The Encounter: As the PCs close in on the Cult, the Acolyte sends some of the Cult’s more brutal adherents to intimidate the PCs. When that doesn’t work, the next group will seek to persuade the PCs of the correctness of their efforts. Finally, the Acolyte and their most powerful adherents will seek out the PCs to kill them.

The Appearance: Before the Acolyte and the PCs have their climactic encounter, the ancient wizard arrives, seeking the Acolyte. The wizard’s failure to participate in the defeat of the Necromancer—even though the Necromancer was defeated—has left them resentful and angry, with too many years (centuries?) to nurse their bitterness. Will they seek to defeat the Acolyte as the last vestige of the Necromancer’s cult, or will they ally themselves with the cult, their bitterness having broken them?

In most adventures that I’ve written, the PCs are able to gain a direct victory—overpowering the opposition through physical, mental, or social means—but it’s always interesting to change it up and present them with a problem that the direct approach can’t solve. That’s what it’s like when you are the smartest or the strongest in the room. That led me to think about a situation ’s what it’s like for a real underdog. In our world—and, to be honest, historically—that’s been the fate of displaced persons. This isn’t the first time the subject informed my RPG writing.  I had plans to write on the fate of a particularly famous group of likely displaced people during the Late Bronze Age collapse—Sagas of the Sea Peoples got recycled as the Sword’s Edge adventure Poles of Power. This one-pager is still a kind of a power fantasy—it’s a lot cleaner and removed from real suffering than most refugee situations—but it presents a situation the PCs can’t punch their way out of.

Story

The PCs control Sanctuary—this could be a tavern and inn, it could be a quarter of a city, or it might even be a city or town itself—that sits between two opposing powers. It is the only safety for the refugees from the war. The PCs can’t openly use violence as the opposing armies have escalation dominance—they can bring far more force to bear on Sanctuary than the PCs can even hope to oppose. As the war is coming to a close, both armies seek battlefield victories to improve their positions and the polity’s negotiation position. The PCs need to protect Sanctuary and the refugees finding shelter until peace or at least stability arrives.

Places

Sanctuary: What is it? How do the PCs control it—are they the oligarchy controlling a city state or the owners of an establishment inside a city that is the site of battles between the opposing powers?

Paradise: There is another place of refuge, and a more permanent one. For the lucky few, Sanctuary is but a stop on their journey. Many others must try to find a means to reach Paradise and be accepted there.

Challenges

The Soldiers: The war has been long and it has been cruel. Those fighting have been brutalized by it. The enemy has been dehumanized and atrocities committed. The soldiers likely feel there will be no repercussions for the crimes they commit, and some welcome that as they share their pain with the world or try to blot it out through brutality.

The Leaders: For some of the leaders of the opposing powers, Sanctuary is an insult. It flaunts their authority, and for some people, that is a personal slight. They will not accept anything except total submission. They do not care that submission to them lays one open to retribution from the enemy. That is not their concern.

The Professionals: There are those on both sides who abhor the crimes and atrocities. Yes, it is a constant is war, but that does not mean one should accept it. As Shakespeare had Henry V say: “. . . when lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom, the gentler gamester is the soonest winner.”

Events

Balance of Power: One of the two warring powers has achieved a modicum of dominance, and now has control—for the moment—of the territory in which Sanctuary exists. The commander of the force seeks submission from Sanctuary, and they are hesitant and indecisive, easily swayed by their lieutenants—some of whom want Sanctuary destroyed.

The Negotiations: One of the two warring powers approaches the PCs, requesting that Sanctuary host the negotiations. It is a loaded request, as the proposing side implies rejection of the request will reveal Sanctuary is not neutral. And if Sanctuary hosts the negotiations, both sides will constantly demand submission as a show of neutrality, while claiming any show of submission to the other side show Sanctuary is not neutral.

One-pagers are a kind of adventure prep that I use which I outlined in an older post over at Sword’s Edge. Basically, because I am very comfortable with improv gaming, I usually work from a very basic adventure outline and do everything else on the fly.

Below is a one-pager based on the movie Uprising, which I reviewed at Sword’s Edge. There are no NPCs/challenges/obstacles statted out—no mechanical opponents presented—so you might need to cook some of those up if you use this. The ideas are there. Run with them.

Story

The PCs are bandits that have formed into an irregular force protecting the local communities from the depredations of the armies fighting the wars—whether those are the nominal “lords” of the land or the armies invading that territory. They haven’t been especially cruel to the villagers, but they are criminals, and their raids have likely created hardship for the local population. They will face both violent encounters with the contending armies, but also interpersonal challenges in finding peace and mutual support with the villages they are now protecting.

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